Joshua Nevett
Political reporter
PA
Some people on benefits are “taking the mickey”, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has said, as the government seeks ways to curb welfare spending.
Kendall was speaking to ITV about a Department of Work and Pensions survey that suggested 200,000 people on benefits were ready to work if they had support.
The DWP report found 49% of health and disability benefits claimants felt they would never be able to work again.
But it also showed nearly half (44%) of people with a mental health condition expected to be able to work in future if their health improved.
Kendall told ITV: “I think what the survey shows today is that despite all the myths, a lot of people who are currently on sickness or disability benefits want to work.”
When asked if people on benefits were “pretending they can’t work”, she added: “Many of them have either just lost jobs that they desperately miss, or really want to get back into to work once they’ve got their health condition under control.
“So I think that there are many more people who want to work. I have no doubt, as there always have been, there are people who shouldn’t be on those benefits who are taking the mickey and that is not good enough – we have to end that.”
The government says the number of young people aged 16 to 34 who do not work because of long-term sickness and have a mental health condition has reached 270,000.
This number increased by 60,000 (26%) in the last year, according to the DWP.
As of January, 9.3 million people aged 16 to 64 in the UK were economically inactive – a rise of 713,000 since the Covid pandemic.
Last year, the government spent £65bn on sickness benefits – a 25% increase from the year before the pandemic. That figure is forecast to increase to around £100bn before the next general election.
Kendall said the DWP survey, which spoke to 3,401 benefit recipients, showed the need to reform the current welfare system and encourage young people to work if they can.
The DWP secretary said: “There is genuinely a problem with many young people, particularly the Covid generation, but we can’t have a situation where doing a day’s work is in itself seen as stressful.”
Kendall said supermarket managers had told her some young people did not understand work was “just the nature of life and that isn’t stress or pressure”.
The DWP secretary is expected to present a policy paper on welfare reform next month.
Ministers are worried about the surge in the number of people claiming benefits since the pandemic and the cost to the taxpayer, as the country faces challenging economic headwinds.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said people who claim long-term sickness benefits should be made to return to work “where they can”.
“The basic proposition that you should look for work is right,” he told the BBC last year.
“People need to look for work, but they also need support.
“That’s why I’ve gone out to look at schemes where businesses are supporting people back into work from long-term sickness.”
